Charles Cajori
American artist (1921–2013)
Charles Florian Cajori (March 9, 1921 – December 1, 2013) was an abstract expressionist painter who, through his drawing, painting and teaching, made a significant contribution to the New York School of artists that emerged in the 1950s.
Early life
Charles Cajori was born in Palo Alto, California, to Florian Cajori and Marion Huntington Haynes. They moved to Wayne, Pennsylvania, when Charles was one year old. Florian Cajori was a bio-chemist and taught in the medical school at the University of Pennsylvania. Marion was a pianist and educator who gave piano lessons and started a school inspired by John Dewey’s philosophy of inclusion and social reform.
Cajori went to school on the Main Line in the western suburbs of Philadelphia before enrolling in Colorado Springs Art Center in 1939 and the Cleveland Art School from 1940 to 1942. He was drafted in 1942, and spent four years in the US Air Force. Upon his discharge, he went to Columbia University on the G.I. Bill and studied there with Jack Heliker. He attended the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture of in the summers of 1947 and 1948.
Early on Cajori discovered New York's downtown scene, and began attending the lively (and sometimes feisty) gatherings at the Cedar Tavern and the panels at the fabled Eighth Street Club.
The public source identifies “Charles Cajori” as american artist (1921–2013). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Charles, Cajori and American.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Charles Cajori”, the useful work is to connect “american artist (1921–2013)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q58213294. VIAF identifies the subject as 96384024. The Library of Congress control number is nr00013431. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1921, 2013, 1939 and 1940.
Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Charles Cajori”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Charles Cajori primary sources, Charles Cajori archive and Charles research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Charles Cajori”?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Charles Cajori” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.